


i've been saving all my summers for you

by haecates



Category: Impulse (Comics), Robin (Comics), Superboy (Comics), Teen Titans (Comics), Young Justice (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-14
Updated: 2016-03-14
Packaged: 2018-05-26 14:42:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6243685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haecates/pseuds/haecates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Alright, so… You start on Monday.” The manager says, he takes his eyes out of Bart’s file and smiles – that smile only people that need it to have a paycheck at the end of the month know how to give. It’s not really a genuine smile, Bart knows, but he has no doubt he will learn how to do it sooner than later.</p>
<p>“Thanks for the opportunity.” He says, feeling stupid as soon as the words come out of his mouth, but the manager doesn’t seem to notice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i've been saving all my summers for you

**Author's Note:**

> After a month (I think? Maybe?), I'm finally posting it! Huge thanks for Lauren for listening to me talking about this fic for a whole month while not letting her read more than a few paragraphs.

“Alright, so… You start on Monday.” The manager says, he takes his eyes out of Bart’s file and smiles – that smile only people that need it to have a paycheck at the end of the month know how to give. It’s not really a genuine smile, Bart knows, but he has no doubt he will learn how to do it sooner than later.

“Thanks for the opportunity.” He says, feeling stupid as soon as the words come out of his mouth, but the manager doesn’t seem to notice. He gets up and leads him to the door, outside of his office it’s not so quiet. There’s a line, but the girl behind the counter smiles at all customers and ask about their day as if they’re all old friends. No one seems to be pissed at her.

He stares at the place one more time before saying goodbye to the manager. Working at a coffee shop isn’t really his idea of dream job, but Barry was pretty straightforward about it. When he said he was taking a year off to decide what he really wanted to do before college, Barry looked at him and said he’d have to help with the bills then. It might have something to do with how Wally didn’t really help with anything, but Bart didn’t want to think about it too much.

On his way out, he notices a guy at the corner of the shop. The guy has a few books with him and had been typing on a laptop for a long time before looking at him. He just looks at him and smiles, Bart feels his cheeks getting all warm and red, and leaves without looking at the guy twice.

………………

He wakes up way too early on Monday – it’s not that he is anxious about his new job, it’s just that he can’t stop thinking about it. He looks at the clock and it marks 2 A.M., he groans and covers himself up, ready to try and sleep again when Wally gets in their room. He looks and smells like a drunk mess and laughs as soon as he realizes Bart is awake “Did I interrupt you on anything?”

Bart looks at him and decides he won’t answer. They aren’t even brothers, Wally is Iris’ brother and he is Barry’s cousin, why Barry and Iris accepted them at their house is beyond any of them, but none of them ever complain. “Iris will kill you if she realizes you got home drunk at a Monday.”

Wally smiles as he opens the door to the bathroom they share “It’s still Sunday somewhere in the world.” 

He fades into the bathroom and Bart fades back into sleep, he wakes up again at 7 A.M., Barry knocking on the door letting him know he won’t have a ride to work if he takes too long to get up.

………………

“Everyone calls me Kon.” The manager– Kon, says. He leans against the wall and waits for Bart to put on his apron and put his things on his locker. Bart does it quickly, typing Iris a text about how he won’t have his phone during work hours because early, during breakfast, he promised he would text her at all times. She can be really protective sometimes.

“I’m ready.” he says after locking his locker and follows Kon to the shop. Kon isn’t really good at explaining the job, so Kara takes in to explain him all he has to do. There’s so many types of coffee he get a little dizzy, he didn’t really think them all would be this different – when he was only a customer he really thought they were all the same thing with different names, not that he minded that much.

It takes Kara a few hours to show him everything and by the time she finishes it, a few other employees are already there. Jason is the first to arrive, he isn’t really friendly and stops for a cigarette before actually start working. Kon shoots him a glance but the boy with the white streak in his hair doesn’t seem to mind and Bart makes a mental note not to get too close to him.

After Jason, it’s Cassie’s turn. She’s way nicer than him, actually stops, introduces herself and wishes him good luck before going to the back to get ready to work. Kara says she’s the nicest person she knows, and Bart has no doubt about it. Megan was supposed to be there as well, but she calls in sick and Kon is all worried on the phone. Even Jason, with his bad ass attitude, is worried about her and Bart realizes she was the girl he saw on Friday. The one that smiled to all customers and talked to them as if they were friends, he likes her without even knowing her.

A little around noon, the guy that smiled at him on Friday gets in and sits on the corner, opens his backpack and takes a few books out of it. Bart watches him, a little curious – that was one of the first rules Kara told him earlier, no one can be there without buying anything, but no one seems to mind and the guy looks weirdly at home. He doesn’t even notice Kon is there until the coffee machine makes a weird noise and he looks away from the guy at the corner. Kara leans close to him and whispers “That’s Tim.”

_ Tim. _

Bart looks at her kind of confused “Is he important or what?”

Jason chuckles and is by his side in two seconds “That, new guy, is Kon’s boy.”

“They don’t date or anything.” Cassie says, while cleaning the counter that is already clean. There are no customers there besides that Tim guy and all of them but Cassie doesn’t seem really happy with having nothing to do.

“Not for lack of trying.” Jason completes and when Bart still looks confused, he puts a hand on his shoulder and looks at him in the eye “Basically, the boss really wants to get that, so Tim gets free wi-fi and Kon makes his special coffee everyday. You’re better off not getting near that.”

Bart nods, but when he looks at Tim again, he is looking directly to him and smirking.

Kon goes back to his office and he looks like he might punch someone in the face.

………………

The whole day goes by without any other problems and a little around six, Bart feels like he’s really getting the hang of it. He serves a coffee to a tall blonde smiley girl and as he gets ready to take another order, Cassie taps on his shoulder and points to the clock “Bye, new guy.”

Jason smirks at him and takes his place to take the new order, looks at him “Tomorrow you get to close the store with us, since you won’t have training in the morning, don’t be sad.” Kara slaps him in the shoulder, but Bart doesn’t really understand why – he didn’t get half of what Jason said all day, he has a weird sense of humour, and he decided he won’t ask.

“Kon wants to see you before you go.” Kara says and winks at him, getting a brownie. He goes to the back of the store alone and stares at his apron for a whole minute before deciding he won’t take it home to wash just yet. He doesn’t turn his phone on, decides he will do it after talking to his manager, and gets his backpack, leaving the locker room as fast as he can. He knocks on the management office door two times before he hears Kon’s voice telling him to get in.

He steps in a little worried, but nothing on the boy near him resembles the look he saw on his face earlier that day. He looks even peaceful. “So, how do you like the job?” He smiles and Bart wonders if that’s what he always asks to those who are starting.

“I really like it… It’s a lot to take in, but I guess I’ll get the hang of it really soon.”

“So… I bet they told you all about Tim, right?” Bart didn’t expect him to say anything about it, so he just nods a little uncomfortable, Kon doesn’t seem to mind it. “They like to talk a lot, but Tim is my friend, so don’t believe everything you hear.”

It sure didn’t look as if he didn’t mind earlier today when Tim looked at him, but Bart realizes it’s not very smart to bring that up “I wasn’t judging or anything.”

Kon nods and he realizes it means he has to leave. He says something like good night before leaving and doesn’t look at the corner Tim is at before getting out of the coffee shop. 

………………

He meets Megan on Wednesday. 

She comes running and hugs him as soon as he enters the shop and it takes him a while to realize he is supposed to hug her back, by the time he does so, Jason is already laughing so hard he is crying. “They all said nice things about you.” Megan says, releasing him from her hug and he bet he is a little bit flustered because Jason had stop laughing but now he’s back at it.

“Really?” He asks, a little more shy than the usual and Kara saves him, by getting him by the arm. Megan is back behind the counter right away, already chatting very excitedly with Cassie. 

“Of course we said nice things about you, Freckles.”

“Freckles?” Bart asks, a little confused.

“My idea.” Jason says and then goes to the back of the shop to get ready. Bart only now realizes that they got here together and runs behind him. The locker room will feel less haunting if he isn’t alone in there.

He goes straight to his locker, already grabbing his apron and shooting a text to both Jaime and Iris today before he notices Jason looking at him. “So, freckles, I feel like you deserve a little advice.”

He arches an eyebrow, but Jason keeps on talking. “Kon is trouble, don’t go there and so is Tim. I see the way you look at them.”

“I don’t–" He starts, but feels stupid. Kon is a beautiful guy and it’s not like he has gotten that many action since him and Thaddeus broke up last year, so yeah, he looked. And Tim, well, Tim looked first.

“Trust me, new guy, been there, done that.” Bart opens his mouth to ask, but Jason’s phone rings and he answers by saying  _ Hi baby  _ on a tone he never heard him use, so Bart just leaves him there alone, feeling bad about the Thaddeus break up all over again.

He doesn’t have much time feeling sad, though, because Kon asks them all to decide what their schedule will be. Bart doesn’t mind closing the store if that means he gets a few more hours of sleep in the morning, when Jason shows up a few minutes later, Kon let them know they’ll have the same shift.

He is a little sad he won’t get to see all the girls as much as he had yesterday, he really liked them, mostly Kara, but all of them have classes at night and it starts next week, so they’re opening the store in the morning. Bart thinks about asking why there’s only two people on his shift while in the morning there’s three, but he figures is because the nights are always slower, and Kon can always help if he and Jason can’t handle it.

Jason smiles at him and he remembers when he made a mental note not to like the guy. He mentally scratches that so he won’t feel like a failure.

Later that day, he is all alone at the shop. Jason got out for his fifth cigarette break, but this time Bart saw a redheaded guy waiting for him outside, so he feels like he won’t get back this soon. Kon is at the office and earlier, when Bart knocked on the door to ask for some help with the crazy chantilly machine, he looked like he was drowning in paperwork, so he won’t bother him.

Tim is there, of course, but he is really focused on not looking at him.

He really wishes he had his phone right now, but he kind of feel like he would text the wrong person and do the wrong thing. He is really good at doing the wrong thing.

A few more minutes pass before Tim goes up to the counter, Bart smiles automatically and Tim just nods. “You’re new, right?”

“Yeah, started on Monday.” Bart says, waiting for him to make an order so he’ll have something to do with his hands.

“And Jason already left you alone? Typical Jason.” he laughs and Bart joins in, not sure why.

“You know them all?”

Tim keeps on looking at a brownie, but answers him anyway. “Yes, I always come here, I live across the street and… Stealing the wi-fi from the window wasn’t really good, so I just talked to Kent about how I need internet to write my research but am too poor to pay for internet, I guess I touched his heart.” He smiles a little and grabs his wallet, counts a few dollars and hands it to Bart “Can you get me a brownie and a simple coffee, please?”

“A simple one?” Bart asks, because he saw a few times now how Kon gives him a different coffee every day. Tim doesn’t seem to notice, he just nods.

“So, you’re a bartender slash what?”

Bart serves his brownie and arches one eyebrow. “What?”

“Megan is a bartender/actress.” he cuts a piece of the brownie and eats it slowly. His jawline is hard not to stare at, but Bart holds himself. “Jason is a bartender/teacher, but don’t let him know I told you that.”

“Jason is a teacher?” It just doesn’t add up. Jason looks like he would kick kids in the face.

The door opens and Jason gets in, looks at them. “Poor kids.” He answers the question that wasn’t asked to him “Only on Saturdays, I work at an organization, Wayne’s foundation.” He hides the cigarette package on his pocket and washes his hands “Tim knows it because he is a snoop.”

“I’m not a snoop.” Tim says and drinks a sip of his black coffee “It took me three minutes.”

“If he asked you anything, freckles, is because you’re not on Google.”

“It’s very frustrating.” Tim comments and Bart smiles a little.

“I’m just a bartender for now.”

Both Jason and Tim look at him, but Jason is the one to say what’s on his mind. “Wow, new guy, that’s pretty fucking sad.”

………………

Bart is free on the weekend, so he decides to visit Gotham’s University to see if anything tickles his brain. He knows Barry expects him to follow his steps, but working with forensics isn’t really how he pictures himself in the future – not that he really can picture himself doing anything. Wally goes with him and brings his friend Dick along.

He had heard from Dick before and when he shows up to be actually really nice, Bart kind of curses his name. He used to picture him as being a complete tool.

“Alright, so you don’t have any idea of what you like?” Dick asks, when they first arrive.

“I like science.” Bart says, a little faster than he expected. He usually does everything a little too fast.

“Nerd.” Wally plays, messing with his hair, before grabbing some pamphlets about the science department to show him. Bart looks at it carefully, still a little unsure.

Still, they visit the whole building. Since it’s the weekend, there is almost no one there, just a few older guys that are probably working on some project. Bart kind of stares as they work and they invite him to look around – it looks fun, but it also doesn't look like anything he would do in the future. He bites his lip as he listens to the tall blonde guy explaining everything about the robot, or something that looks like it, they built.

By the end of the day, they meet with some other of Wally’s friends at the cafeteria. They’re not much older than him, maybe five years, but still Bart feels like a baby. He shoots a text to Jaime to come up and save him and tells Wally he really needs to leave.

Jaime meets him in front of the university. He has a shitty car, but it takes them to wherever they need to be – even though it breaks on them sometimes, so it’s good. “You know, you sounded a little too desperate on the text.” He smiles, stretching himself up to open the door so Bart can hop in.

“I was.” Bart says, putting on the seat belt. Jaime laughs because, yes, Bart is a  _ nerd. _

“What’s the problem, bro?” Jaime asks a little too serious. Most of the time, when Bart shoots him a text like that, it’s because something Thaddeus related happened, so he can’t really blame him.

“Didn’t see him, it was just too much, yeah? Let’s get out of here.”

“You say,  _ jefe. _ ” He smirks and drives them out of there. The further they get to the University, more relaxed Bart gets. He wish he liked it – school. He never did. He has always been good at everything because he likes studying, he does it for fun, but the whole taking tests and being graded on his every step thing just makes him anxious.

He wish he could just skip it and not do anything, but Barry would never let him.

Once they get near Jaime’s house, Bart’s phone buzzes with a text.  _ You busy? _ It’s from Jason. He types fast, without really looking.  _ not rly y? _

The answer is an address followed by  _ Come or I’ll get Kon to fire you on Monday, not even joking.  _ So he looks at Jaime “Want to meet the guys from work?”

Jaime smiles a little too bright “Yeah, bro, I know you’re very into guys, but are any girls in there?”

“Probably.”

“Probably is enough for me,  tell me where we’re going.”

………………

The address is a little outside of Gotham, which makes Jaime curse in spanish for good fifteen minutes. After being friends and visiting Jaime’s house for so long, Bart knows the language enough to be understood if he really needs it, but whenever Jaime is pissed he speaks like all the words are glued together and Bart learned how to ignore it until he calms down.

“Nice place.” Jaime says when they hop off the car, Bart a little more nervous than he expected. Maybe it’s the whole day that’s a mistake.

“Yeah, right.” Bart says, puts his hands on his pockets and walks towards the door. Jaime messes with his hair, kind of hugging him. Bart laughs a little too loud because he wasn’t expecting that – even though he should.

When the door opens, Kon stares at them for a little too long. “Hi.” He says and Bart smiles.

“Hi, I’m Jaime.” Jaime says, offering his hands.

Kon takes it, but he seems to press it a little too strong, because Jaime’s jaw clench. He doesn’t look more bothered than that, though, smiles easily at him.

“I’m Kon.” He says and Bart stares at them a little too confused. When he opens his mouth to say something, Cassie appears a little drunk already, she hugs Bart a little too tight and then announces to everyone that he is there. He gets inside the house, Jaime behind him and everyone greets him without really moving from their places.

There’s Megan, sitting near Kara and then Jason and his boyfriend Roy, they’re so close to each other that Bart feels like he’s invading their privacy by looking at it for too long. There’s also a girl he doesn’t’ know, she wears an eyepatch and doesn’t really look at him or anyone but Cassie really.

“This is my friend Jaime.” He introduces him and everyone looks at him like he is joking. Jaime’s hands are on his neck, playing with that one curl of his hair that seems to always be in the wrong place.

“Hi Jaime, I’m Jason.” Jason untangles from Roy to introduce himself properly and they shake hands on a way more friendly way than Kon did a few minutes ago.

“Nice house.”

Jason smiles. “Oh. This isn’t mine, I live on a shithole” He starts walking and both Jaime and Bart follow him, they go to the kitchen and no one really follows. They all go back to talking and Jason offers them a beer. They both accept and Jason looks at Bart. “You never told me you had a boyfriend.”

Bart laughs without even thinking. “That’s because I don’t.”

Jason arches one eyebrow and Bart is still laughing, leans on Jaime to keep himself up and drinks a little sip of the beer. “He’s my best friend, we never… I mean, once.”

“It was the worst.” Jaime says, laughing a little. “Like kissing your brother.”

“Oh.” Jason says simply, drinks a sip of his own beer and then gets close to Bart. Pushes his hair back, “Remember that advice I gave you?”

Bart nods.

“You might want to try and remember it when you get drunk.” And smiles, leaving them there.

………………

After a while, Jaime is everyone’s best friend. That’s just how he is. He talks and talks about his major or his family and he makes jokes everyone finds funny, he tells stories about how he and Bart met and how he wet his pants on the first day at school in the first grade. Everyone laughs and Bart feels at ease, the weight of the day and the decisions he is supposed to make sliding out of his shoulders.

He gets up to pee maybe for the ninth time after his third beer, a little too tipsy for his own good. The bathroom near the living room is being used, so he goes upstairs.

After he pees, he looks at himself in the mirror. His baby face always made him mad. He is eighteen, but he is easily mistaken for being fifteen and that pisses him off the most – most guys just pass through him even when he’s giving them the looks.  _ Too much trouble _ , they probably think. They’re not really wrong about the trouble, only about the reasons why.

He leaves the bathroom and Kon is there, outside. It’s probably the first time they’ve been alone since he arrived and Kon seems more relaxed too, smiles at him. “I was wondering where you were hiding.”

“Not hiding…” Bart says, feeling a little too silly.

“Little did I know you were in my room.” Bart looks around and everything looks clean. Nothing on the walls – it seems like there’s little to no personality on it.

“It doesn’t look like it’s yours.”

“Well, my room when I’m visiting Kara.” he looks at him and Bart has a question on his tongue, ready to go if the alcohol lets him. “She’s my cousin.” He says, simply.

For some reason, he looks at him and say, “Jaime is only my best friend.” like a complete fool.

It seems enough to Kon, though, because he says  _ Oh, thank god _ , under his breath and gets really close to Bart. His hands on his waist and their faces so close Bart just widen his eyes – Yes, he thought about it. More times than he would like to admit. He just didn’t think Kon did too.

Kon licks his lips “Can I kiss you?” He says and his voice is almost vulnerable. Bart touches his hair and it is as soft as he imagined it to be, he tangles his fingers on it and gets close. Their lips touch and Kon gets the hint, kisses him slow, guides him through it.

It’s the first person he kisses after Thad and, _ damn _ .

Damn to how Kon sucks on his tongue and he doesn’t know if it’s the drinks or how he wanted it so bad, but he sighs against his lips. Kon’s hands are slowly getting to know his whole body, squeezing his ass and mapping his chest. “Fuck” Bart sighs again and Kon stops a little, looks at him.

“Too much?”

“ _ Too good _ .” He says without thinking, his hands on the back of his neck as he pushes him into another kiss. This time, it isn’t slow. It’s hot and messy and all he needs.

It’s only when Kon pushes him against the bed that Bart looks at him. “‘Been wanting to do this for the longest time.” He kisses on his neck and Bart moans.

“A week?”

“Long enough.” He groans and takes his shirt off. Bart stares at it for a whole minute before crashing his lips against his skin. He thought before about how hot Kon looked on his shirts that always seems to be two sizes too small, but nothing could have him prepared for the real thing. He is glad for the alcohol because he is on top of him, licking his abs, before he even notices. 

Kon smiles, takes Bart’s shirt off and looks at him like he’s the best thing he’s ever seem. Bart probably blushes, because he feels his cheeks all warm – Kon gets them warmer by kissing him again. Kisses him with a purpose, “Tell me when to stop.” He whispers against his mouth, his hand sliding to Bart’s crotch.

Bart moans softly against his mouth. “Don’t stop.” and Kon doesn’t. Doesn’t stop kissing him and doesn’t stop with his hands there, he slides them into his pants and jerks him off slowly. Bart moves on his lap, fucks his fist as he moans against his mouth, moans for him not to stop –  over and over again. Kon’s fist is already all wet with his precum when he starts moving his hands faster, moaning until Kon gives him what he wants,  whispers on his ear how he wanted to do this. How good his throbbing dick feels on his hand.

Bart comes, throwing his head back, and Kon licks on his neck before licking his own dirty fingers, tasting him.

“Fuck.” Bart says again, his eyes all big and cheeks all red.

Kon chuckles, lays down next to him. “Jason will fucking kill me.”

“Why?”

“He thinks I’ll break your heart.”

Bart feels a little uncomfortable right away, but he doesn’t move. “Someone did it first.” He says, looks at Kon. “You can’t break my heart.”

Kon sucks on his lip, closes his eyes. “He can still punch me though.”

“He doesn’t have to know.” He whispers and he knows it is a good idea the second he says it, but Kon kisses him again and kind of forgets everything that isn’t his lips.

………………

Monday comes faster than Bart expected and he gets to work a little too nervous about seeing Kon. They did text on Sunday – not about anything really, Kon is literally the worst person at texting Bart had ever known, and he knows Barry. When he arrives at work, everything is quieter than the expected. Kara is alone and looks at him like he is the greatest thing.

“Thank god! I need to leave and Jason is not coming today.”

“What? Why?” He babbles, getting near her so the costumers won’t listen to their conversation.

“I don’t know, really, something family related.” She whispers. “Now, go get ready, I have class.”

Bart marches to the locker rooms that feel way less intimidating after a week and changes as quickly as he can. Shoots the usual text to both Jaime and Iris, but before he can turn his phone off, it buzzes with a text from Kon.  _ My office ;) _ it says.

Such a fuckboy.

He turns his phone off and tries to not make much noise as he goes to Kon’s office. He feels Kara will kill him if he takes too long to start working. As soon as he opens the door, his jaw drops. “Fuck.”

Kon has a black eye and a smirk on his lips. “It’s fine.”

“Jason?”

“I told ya.” He says, simply. And then gets up, walks on Bart’s direction.

“I didn’t think he really would–" He doesn’t finish the sentence because Kon kisses him. It feels familiar this time and still it leaves Bart out of breath, he smiles against his lips. “Is this how you make me feel less guilty?”

Kon smirks again. “It’s totally your fault you’re this hot.”

He chuckles and kisses him again softly, then stops it and looks at him, his thumbs tracing the mark Jason’s fist left. “Sorry.” He whispers, meaning it.

“Don’t I look hot?” He changes the subject quickly and Bart lets him, rolls his eyes.

“You always look hot.”

It goes right into Kon’s ego and he smiles so bright his black eye looks like art. Bart kisses him again and then steps away from his arms “I got to work, you know? My boss is going to be angry.”

“ _ Oh, he is. _ ” He jokes as Bart walks to the door, he opens it to leave, but looks back one more time.

“And, Kon?”

“Yes, Bart.” His voice is all soft. It’s really hard to be the professional one here.

“Don’t fire Jason.”

Kon nods and Bart leaves. Once he gets to the saloon, Kara finishes serving a girl with pink hair and leaves him alone. It’s probably not the best decision to leave the new guy alone after one week only, but he manages to only screw up three orders and only one guy asks to see his manager.

Tim also doesn’t come and his whole shift feels a little empty. He has Kon, yes, and he kisses him on every break he takes, but the night is slow and weird without Tim to ask invasive questions or make Buzzfeed quizzes with him when he’s bored of studying or Jason making funny comments about everyone that gets there.

When he and Kon close everything down later, he looks across the street and Tim is looking at them through the window. He waves, but he just turns around and disappears inside his apartment.

………………

The next day, Jason shoves Bart against the lockers and looks at him in the eye. “You didn’t listen to me, freckles, but I’ll tell you a story because I like you, alright?” Bart had just gotten there, he still has his phone on his hands and his bag fell on the floor. He just nods.

“When I first started working here, Kon wasn’t the manager yet, it was this guy called Garth.” He looks away as if he’s trying to find words and Bart waits, not only because he is technically unable to move. “Garth was a pain in the ass and Kon liked having fun, right? So we fooled around a bit.”

Bart’s eyes widen – he just can’t see that. Jason and Kon. Yes, he noticed they’re more than co-workers, there’s some kind of intimacy there, but he just thought they were friends. That’s probably because of what people always think about him and Jaime, he doesn’t like jumping to conclusions.

“When Garth left and Kon became manager, things changed a bit, but no one cared, right? We got the whole office for us and, believe me, I get you, it’s hard to say no.”

Jason wasn’t even there anymore, his grip on Bart didn’t get any less tight though. “Then Tim appeared.”

“They’re friends.” Bart says, his voice pathetic.

Jason chuckles, looks at him. “No, kid, they’re not. Why do you think Tim gets away with breaking our main rule?”

“Tim said he talked to Mr. Kent…” Bart starts, but Jason lets him go, looks at him.

“Conner Kent, that’s your boyfriend’s name, if you ever care to ask.” Bart doesn’t say a word, his mind is spiralling and he feels he might throw up. “He will break your heart kid, and Replacement will stay right where he is, getting free coffee, free internet and the mind blowing sex you’ll only have as a memory.”

Bart gets up, thinking about whether shooting or not a text to Jaime. His phone buzzes with a text from Kon and he turns it off, gets his apron on his locker and doesn’t look at Jason on his way out. Doesn’t go to the Management Office also. He goes straight to work, thanking the universe for the fact that it is a busy day. He smiles to the customers, wishes them a good day, is so focused that he doesn’t mess up any orders.

Things only slow down when they’re an hour away from closing. Jason lets him know he will be out for a smoke and Bart feel guilty for wishing he doesn’t come back any time soon. He needs to think about what he told him – needs to talk to Kon, even though he’s not sure he has any right to do it.

Tim gets up from the corner he’s usually in and looks at him. “You look like you need to talk.”

“Not really.”

Tim bites his lip, orders the usual black coffee and brownie and hands him the money.

Bart hands him his order and then just sighs. “Do you ever feel like you’re being played?”

“What do you mean?” Tim asks without looking at him, focusing on eating a piece of his brownie. Bart looks at him for a few seconds, still not sure of why he asked him this if he’s the  _ problem _ .

“On a relationship.”

He looks up, the corner of his lips curl on a smile that Bart is sure he saw on his dreams right more often than not. “No, never.”

Somehow, it is answer enough, because he knows Kon would answer the same. And because he would have said  _ Yes, all the time. _

_ Yes, right now. _

………………

When he and Kon close the shop, Kon looks at him worried. “Jason talked to you.” He says, matter-of-factly and Bart just nods. He reaches to touch Bart’s face, but Bart takes a step back, not really sure why. “Do you want to hear my side of the story?”

“Did you ever fuck Tim?” He asks, his voice small.

Kon looks conflicted for a moment before answering him. “Yes, but–"

“Then I don’t want to.”

Bart goes straight to Jaime’s and sleeps on his couch without ever telling him what the problem is.

………………

The next day, Jason is quiet and Kon doesn’t leave his office. Bart is nice to all clients, but his head is someplace else. The whole day passes way too fast and before he notices, Jason is telling him it is cigarette break time and he is alone with Tim again. It takes an awful long time until Tim tries to talk to him again, but when he does, it is as if he doesn’t know any of the drama. He shows him Buzzfeed tests and it appears if Bart was a fruit he would be an apple – Tim smiles at that and says, meaningfully, that apples are his favorite fruits. He blushes and tries to change the subject.

When they’re almost closing, Tim goes back to his table and grabs his stuff. He only brought two books and his laptop today – it’s almost nothing, he brought almost twelve books once and Jason had to help him take them all home. Before leaving, he looks at Bart and smiles. “Are you doing anything this weekend?”

“N-not really.” Bart says, trying to remember if he promised he would be anywhere.

“You should come and see me then.”

Then Tim leaves and Bart laughs because his life is becoming absolutely fucking pathetic.

………………

Deep down, on the part of him that actually though about anything before acting, he knows he should have said no to Tim. Same way he knew he should have picked at course at college already or not ignored his boss all week, but he did it anyway. He rings the doorbell and his heartbeat increases.

He has never talked to Tim outside of work and never about anything that wasn’t silly. He doesn’t even know if he and Tim have anything in common.

When Tim opens the door, he smiles trying not to stare at him too obviously, but the boy is only wearing his underwear and an oversized shirt with a few holes on it. “Hi, Bart.” he smiles back.

“Hi, am I too early?” He says and Tim smiles, opens up the door a little more for him to get in. His apartment is a mess of books and cushions and it’s all Bart pictured it would be. He steps in and Tim closes the door.

“No, I just… I kind of lost track of the time, can you wait a little?” Bart nods and Tim shows him the only spot in the couch that isn’t really full of stuff. He sits and Tim leaves him there.

He is starting to feel too anxious and remembering why this was the worst idea he ever had when a guy gets in the apartment. He looks at Bart for a whole minute before saying, “I’m just leaving.”

“Alright.” Bart says, pathetically and the guy laughs a little.

“I’m the roommate, don’t need to worry.” He moves a few cushions, looking for something under them. Tim never mentioned a roommate, but then again, Tim never mentioned anything about his life other than his major and how if he was a fruit, he would be an orange. The guy doesn’t seem to find anything on the couch, so he just goes to Tim’s room and knocks on the door.

“Did you get my wallet?” He says a little too loud and knocks again, three more times until Tim is out, already fully dressed, hands him his wallet and whispers something Bart can’t really understand, but it looks like enough to the tall broad guy he lives with. He goes straight to the door and laughs before closing it, “Remember, kids, safe sex.”

He then winks and leaves.

Tim seems unbothered, asks him if he wants a beer and sits next to him. “Sorry for the mess, I had another idea for my project today and I got a little carried away.”

Bart smiles because that’s something they can talk about. They always talk about it. “What idea?”

“I’ll just start it again.”

Bart chuckles, but then Tim arches one eyebrow and he realizes he is serious. “That’s brave, you were almost done.”

“Maybe I’m not that good with closure.”

Bart drinks his words with another sip of the beer, not really sure of what it means. Tim smiles then and starts talking about his new idea, he gestures a lot and talks a lot, which is nice, because that way Bart can just look at him, drink his second and third bottles of beer and smile. Tim talks and talks and talks and when he finally finishes, Bart isn’t mad that he and Kon have a thing. He is jealous that he doesn’t.

“You’re staring.” Tim says, a smirk playing on his lips. And Bart just nods because he is.

Tim’s lips are a little wet from the beer and they shine when the light gets to them. “Sorry.” Bart whispers, not sure if for staring or for what he is about to do, but it clears his conscience anyway. He leans in and sucks the beer out of Tim’s lips. 

Tim is the one that start kissing him and he is way softer than Kon or Thad, but he kisses with a purpose. Bart is way too into it before his mind catches up on how his hands are pressing his thighs or how Tim just moved to his lap, has his hands on his neck, tracing his freckles in a way that brings shivers down his spine.

“Tim…” He starts and Tim looks at him, eyes all bright and lips all red.

“I got a little carried away, didn’t I?” And Bart just nods, but as soon as Tim tries to move, he holds him there, pressing his fingers on his thighs once again.

“I really want this.” He says, looking at him. He really does want that.

_ He needs that. _

“Kon.” Tim says, biting his lip and Bart nods again. “It’s not what you think it is.”

“Then… What is it? Because I’m all tangled up on this mess and everyone tells me it’s not what I think it is, but no one tells me sh–” He never finishes his sentence because Tim kisses him again, bites his lip like he means it and messes up with his hair. He melts on his lips and can’t stop thinking about how it would feel to kiss him all. To have him whole.

“He is my boyfriend.” Tim says, kisses a freckle on his neck and the words feel unreal because his lips are everything he ever wanted. “We have an open relationship, so it’s not like you’re doing anything bad.”

“No?” He asks, his voice failing him.

“No.” Tim whispers and bites his earlobe, he feels his breath failing him as well. He doesn’t even think about it – Tim and Kon being boyfriends or what it meant that he had been with one and now the other, he doesn’t think because Tim looks at him and moves his hand to his crotch. He doesn’t think and just nods.

He doesn’t think about all the problems he is tangled up in because Tim’s mouth is all warm around his cock and he moans his name softly as he takes more of him in.

Bart moves his hips a little, thrusts on his mouth, and his eyes glimmer, so Bart does it again and Tim hums against his cock, scratches his thighs a little before taking more of him on his mouth. Bart moans again and puts his hand on his hair, interlocking his fingers on it.

Tim looks at him and he thrusts again and again, fucks his mouth until he can’t take it anymore and, when he feels like he will cum, he tries to take his cock out of Tim’s swollen mouth, but Tim holds him there and drinks him in.

_ So he and Kon have that in common _ , he thinks, panting on the couch when Tim kisses his neck again, curls up on his lap and he holds his chin, kisses him and tastes himself on his lips.

They don’t really talk about  _ it _ again, they just kiss and drink some more, Tim suggests they watch a movie on his room, but it ends with they making out on Tim’s bad and he returning the favor, letting Tim fuck his mouth until his face is all red and his eyes are all teary.

He ends up sleeping there, Tim being the big spoon, all curled up against his body. He sleeps better than he has done in weeks.

………………

He wakes up alone on Tim’s bed, everything smelling like him and his head all heavy from the drinking. When he is up, he feels like throwing up, so he doesn’t move right away, lets his body get used to the fact that it has to be functional now. Once it does, he moves to get his clothes – not really sure when he lost it, but drunk Bart has never been fond of clothes. Jaime has videos that can prove it.

He finds them folded on a chair and smiles a little thinking about how Tim did it in the morning, still not sure of what it means, or what anything means.

Once he is dressed up, he opens the door and is welcomed with the smell of pancakes. His stomach is thankful for it and he smiles, thinking about Tim again.  _ He is all kinds of fucked. _

When he gets to the kitchen, though, Tim isn’t there, his roommate is. The guy looks at him as if he is a lost puppy and points to a few pancakes on the table. There’s a little note from Tim. 

_ Had a meeting on the Academic Center, asked M. to cook you breakfast. _

_ Will be back at noon if you want to wait, Tim. _

He reads it more than once until Tim’s roommate sits at the table with him, bringing his own giant pile of pancake. “I’m not impolite, you just looked like you needed to read whatever he wrote you.”

Bart nods, looks at him “So what’s your name?”

“M.” He says, as if that’s enough and starts eating. When Bart doesn’t keep the conversation going, he looks at him and smiles. “I know you’re Bart, heard enough fights about you.”

“Fights?” His eyes probably widen and M. thinks that’s hilarious.

“So many.” He starts, eats a little more, as if they have all the time in the world and Bart’s not on the edge of his chair, his hands all sweaty.

“But Tim said… Their relationship is open, he said that.” His voice is all stupid and he stumbles on his own words. M. laughs a little more.

“It’s all cool now, freckles, you’re not breaking them up. Trust me, I did it once.”

Bart feels like he everyone he ever met had a thing with either Kon or Tim and he is too late for the party. He also feels like he’s being lied to, too many pieces of the same story told by unreliable narrators and not one of them was telling the real truth. “You did once.” He repeats.

He looks at him and smiles, he doesn’t seem like the type of guy that cares about anything. “I mean, have you looked at Tim? It’s not like I was going to say no to _that_.”

“So I didn’t, alright? He and Kon were in a bit of a break up back then, not like Tim is that type that  _ cheats _ or anything, but they got back together and I was a little jealous, so I tried to break them up. Didn’t work very well for me.”

“You live together.” Bart arches one eyebrow, a little confused.

“Oh, yeah, that was years ago, we’re all cool now.” M. drinks a little of his orange juice, eats another piece of his pancakes and then looks at him. “Besides, both of them know I’m not the relationship type.”

Bart is not hungry anymore, but he eats his pancakes because he feels if he talks, he will ask him more stupid things and make a bigger fool of himself.

He leaves as soon as he finishes breakfast, leaves a note to Tim that says:

_ Sorry, had to leave, but the pancakes were great. See you tomorrow. Bart. _

………………

There’s no one home once he gets there and, as soon as he does, he realizes he hasn’t been there much lately. In between work and drama and sometimes going out with Jaime, he didn’t really spent more time than necessary there and he feels a little guilty. There’s a note for him and Wally in the fridge, it’s Iris handwriting, saying both she and Barry are out of town until Tuesday, apparently Barry’s best friend, Hal, is back from his latest trip and they decided to take another trip altogether to catch up.

He lets himself fall on the couch and turns the TV on, skipping through channels until Wally arrives. He takes a good look at him and says, on what he must think is a thoughtful tone “You look like hell.”

Bart grims a little, messes his hair. “Mm, thanks?”

“It looks like heart problems, I’d know, because Dick has one each week.” He laughs at that and Wally laughs along, sits by his side on the couch. “You know you can talk to me, right? I know we’re not related, but you’re like my little brother.”

When Bart makes a face, because he hates being reminded of how small he is, Wally smiles. “My really, really, really tiny brother.”

He hits him on the face with a cushion and both of them laugh like they usually do. Wally still looks at him worried and he isn’t sure when he starts  _ talking _ , but once he does, he doesn’t really stop. Most people would be dizzy at how fast he speaks, but not Wally, he always got him, even when they weren’t really close.

“I can’t believe I’ll say that, but have you considered talking to them?”

Bart arches his eyebrows. “I talked to them.”

“Come on, Bartholomew, you’re smart. Actually talk to them fully clothed, no hormones, not drunk… I could go on.”

He twitches his nose, feeling a little stupid, too much of a  _ teenager _ , which he usually forgets he is. “And that would solve things?”

“Bro, you don’t look like you have a problem, if you ask me, you just look like a little nerd too bothered because he doesn’t know what’s happening.”

“I don’t usually know what’s happening.” Bart says, his voice all small, and then Wally smiles, messes with his hair.

“Alright and I’ll pretend I didn’t see how your eyes shone when we got into the physics department”

“I don’t see myself doing it for the rest o–” Wally throws a cushion on his face and looks at him meaningfully. He hates when he does that, because once he talks after giving him  _ the look _ , he is usually right. That’s a thing the West family has in common, not that he would tell Wally that, his ego would go over the roof.

“You’re thinking too much, Bart, that’s why you can’t see it.”

He knew he would be right, but it still feels like a punch. He really is a little nerd that hates when he doesn’t know what’s happening – or what will happen, on this matter.

………………

On Monday, he calls work and says he can’t go. Kon seems a little worried on the phone, but he doesn’t get into too much detail anyway, it is as if he says what he will do before doing it, he will lose courage and curl up in bed all day.

He doesn’t even tell Barry he went to Gotham University and applied to his major after he did it. What he gets as an answer is a text with so many emojis, he laughs for five whole minutes, until his face is all red and his breath uneven. He is alone at the gardens, a few other students looking at him, but he doesn’t feel so bad. He actually feels relieved, they can stare all they want.

He can’t really start on college until next semester, but he already made his decision, waiting doesn’t seem like his bigger problem. He texts Jaime and waits for him outside of the Arts Department. His best friend hugs him and spins him when he hears the news and he feels even better.

Everything is excellent,  _ except– _

Jaime doesn’t let him go back to work, though. “What the fuck, bro? I haven’t seen you in weeks.” He says, walking them to his car. “You’ll spend the afternoon with me and we’ll get mad drunk.”

Bart smiles and doesn’t say no.

They end the night on a shitty karaoke bar downtown and Bart is way too drunk to complain when Jaime records a video of him singing _Blank Space_ as if the lyrics mean everything to him.

………………

When he gets to work on Tuesday, the first thing Kon does is call him on his office.“I’m worried you’ll quit because of what happened and I’d like you to know I’ll stop and I know I stepped over the line.” He says it all so quickly when Bart gets in, he doesn’t even have time to finish closing the door.

When he does and finally looks at Kon, he looks all lost. Worried.

“I’m not going to quit.” He says, simply, and Kon looks relieved all of a sudden, he feels like smiling, but holds himself.

“You asked me if I wanted to know, before.”

Kon nods. “Yes.”

“I do now.” His voice is almost a whisper, he is not as brave as he wants to be, but that’s already something. Kon smiles at him and points the couch where they can sit. He is following Wally’s advice though and he can’t have a conversation if he is  _ close _ .

“It wasn’t always an open-relationship, it’s just… We just noticed we also wanted to be with other people.” Bart nods and he keeps going, he feels like he never told it to anyone. “It wasn’t easy, I got really jealous of him, sometimes I still do, but that’s just a thing I have to work out.”

“Jason didn’t get it, he is awful at sharing” He smiles a little to himself, same way Jason does when he talks about them. “When I told him I had a boyfriend but it was cool if we still had our thing he tried to understand, he knows Tim and they also had their thing, it just got too complicated.”

“He is just not good at sharing.” He looks at Bart, as if he is asking a question and Bart knows the answer, but he doesn’t really like his answer.

“I don’t know if I’m good at sharing.” He says.

Kon nods. “It’s okay, we should have asked before… Everything.”

“No one knows you guys date.” Bart says, still feels his hands a little sweaty.  _ Maybe he should quit _ , he thinks. Kon smiles a little and he thinks maybe he should learn how to share.

“No one really asked. Kara knows.”

He stays there, looking at him. There’s so many things going on through his brain that even him is a little dizzy with this much information, still, he doesn’t talk anymore, and Kon doesn’t either. He is thinking too much and not at all, so he takes a few steps closer to Kon, looks at him and kisses him as if he hadn’t ignored him for a whole week. Kon kisses him back as if he also doesn’t care about being ignored.

“I’ve known you for three weeks.” Bart says against his lips and Kon hums. “I don’t know… Maybe it’s too fast.” Kon doesn’t say anything, kisses on his neck, the same spots Tim kissed a few days before and this thought sends shivers down his spine.

“I can go slower.” He finally says, looks up at him with his big blue eyes and Bart melts.

“Just give me time to think about this?” He nods and kisses him quickly, letting go of him. 

“Remember when I said someone broke my heart?” Bart asks and Kon looks at him in a way Bart feels as if he remembers everything he has ever told him. Only one person looked at him this way. “You still can’t do it.”

“I’m not trying to break it.”

“I know.” Bart says.

“I’m sorry if this is too fast, I just…” He looks as if he doesn’t know the words, but Bart  _ knows _ . It’s too fast,  _ but it feels right. _ Nothing feels wrong about this, not even Tim, not even Jason punching him.

“I know.” He says again and Kon kisses his temple.

………………

He and Tim have the same conversation while Jason is on his cigarette break. Tim smiles and kisses him softly. “I’m good at going slow too.”

It sounds incredibly dirty when he says it, and Bart laughs to keep himself from kissing him right there, putting him against the counter and blowing him until his voice is all raspy from moaning his name.

Tim laughs as if he  _ knows _ and then messes with his hair. “So, you want to know M.’s real name?”

Bart smiles and it’s easy. He laughs at M.’s stupid name, not really blaming the guy for choosing a nickname over a name and tells Tim his real name. Tim laughs even more, because apparently Timothy is less lame than Bartholomew and after a few arguments, Bart is inclined to accept Tim is right on this one. He feels so at ease, as if all the weight on his shoulders isn’t there anymore.  _ Yes, he is flirting with Tim. _

_ Yes, it feels good. _

They are still laughing like idiots once Jason gets back from his cigarette break, he looks at them like they’re two complete idiots. There are no more customers there and Bart looks at both of them, leans on the counter. “So… About the bartender slash what thing?”

Jason looks at him, a smirk on his lips. “Yes, freckles?”

“Bartender/Physics major”

Jason and Tim exchange a look and both of them laugh. “You’re such a nerd.” Jason says.

“A bigger nerd than I am.” Tim mocks him.

He laughs with them, calls both of them idiots, but then Jason hugs him and says he is proud and Tim goes on and on about how he would never study physics, but how fascinating he finds it to be. They lose track of the time and, when Kon is out of the office to close up the shop, they’re both ranting about superstring theory and Jason looks like he might punch someone.

“Are we closing later today?” Kon asks, looking at both Tim and Bart while he smiles. Tim walks up to him and kisses his chin, says something that Bart can’t really listen to.

“Hell no!” Jason says and looks at Bart, who follows him to the locker room.

Once they’re alone, Jason glances at him, as if he is ready to give him another speech about Kon breaking his heart or calling him stupid for whatever decision he made.

“Can I talk first?” Jason nods, his eyes a little curious.

“Thank you for caring for me and defending me and I know I could be making the worst decision in my life by allowing myself to be in the middle of them, but, fuck,  _ I want it _ .” When Jason arches an eyebrow, he decides to keep on talking, to explain. He doesn’t know why he cares so much that Jason understands him, maybe because he hadn’t really had a friend to look out for him since Jaime and he doesn’t want him to think he’s ungrateful. “I had a bad relationship, yeah? And maybe what I need now is to learn this, to be with someone with no strings attached, to be with someone because I like them, not because I own them.”

“I didn’t plan on liking them as I do and I know you don’t understand, I just… Can you trust me?”

“So you’re getting in the middle of their mess?” Jason asks, finally, and Bart nods.

“Good for you, freckles.” He smiles a little, gets close to him and hugs him. Bart hugs him back until Jason finally pulls off, as if it’s too much demonstration of affection – which is stupid, if you consider he can’t really keep his hands off of his boyfriend when they’re together, but he doesn’t know anything about him and Roy, Bart suddenly realizes, feeling a little guilty. Jason probably knows more about his love life than Jaime does, at this point.

“That was not what I was going to talk about, though.” He takes his backpack out of his locker and Bart arches one eyebrow at him, not really following where this conversation is going to. “I didn’t know you were such a nerd, alright, so that’s why I never asked… But we kind of need someone like you at the Foundation. If you want to.”

Bart smiles a little. “Sure.”

“I’ll call the boss later and then I’ll let you know.” He winks at him and then leaves the room, Bart follows him back to the front of the shop, where Kon and Tim are waiting for them. As soon as they leave, Kon locks the door and Jason smiles.

“Alright, I’ll leave you three to it, have a nice night.”

Bart smiles a little and kisses Kon good night, all soft and warm, then he turns and kisses Tim all the same. “Going slow, right?”

“Right.” Tim and Kon say together, both of their eyes on Bart.

Bart then turns around and runs after Jason, following him to the train station, the taste of their lips on his all night long.


End file.
